Chapter 268: Now, the Hensley Group Listens to Me!
Chapter 268: Now, the Hensley Group Listens to Me!
The entire conference room fell silent.
The marriage certificate sat in the center of the table, its presence crushing everyone's doubts.
Humiliation and shock crashed over Jared, making his face burn.
He had carefully orchestrated this entire power-grab drama, and this was how it ended.
A woman he'd never taken seriously had crushed everything in the most direct, most brutal way possible.
Married?
They had quietly registered their marriage ages ago. That bastard Stefan had hidden it so well.
"So what... so what if you're married!"
A shareholder finally snapped out of his daze. Unwilling to accept defeat, he slammed his hand on the table, his voice cracking with agitation.
"Even if you're Stefan's legal wife and can represent his shares, so what?"
"You're a designer—what do you know about running a business? What do you know about management?"
"The Hensley Group is a huge company. Put it in your hands, and it will collapse within three days. As shareholders, for the sake of our own interests, we absolutely cannot agree to this."
These words woke everyone up.
"That's right! We firmly oppose this!"
"Professional matters should be handled by professionals. Everyone here understands management better than you. Why should we let an amateur like you call the shots?"
"I still propose that Jared temporarily assume the position of chairman. As Stefan's wife, you can join the board as an advisor and collect dividends every year. That's already our biggest compromise."
With the path of attacking her legitimacy blocked, they immediately switched tactics and began attacking her professional competence.
In their eyes, Amelia was just a woman who was all looks and no ability.
Let her manage something as massive as the Hensley Group? What a joke.
Hope reignited in Jared's eyes.
Right. How could he have forgotten about this angle?
He cleared his throat, putting on the air of a well-meaning elder. "Amelia, I'm not trying to criticize you. Managing a company isn't like drawing pictures or playing house. It's much more complicated than that."
"You're young, you don't understand these ins and outs. I'm just worried someone will trick you and you'll destroy everything Stefan worked so hard to build." For a moment, the conference room was once again filled with false, persuasive voices.
"That's right, Ms. Martinez, just stay out of this."
"Wouldn't it be nice to just be a rich lady? Why wade into these murky waters?"
Cecilia watched their clumsy performance without getting angry. She simply calmly picked up a document from the table.
It was the Hensley Group's financial report from last quarter.
Her gaze fell on the shareholder who had been shouting the loudest.
"Mr. Bentley Lopez."
The fat man called "Bentley" stiffened.
"Your Lopez Trading Company has been a supplier to the Group for many years. Last quarter, the Hensley Group purchased raw materials from you totaling three hundred million dollars."
"But the report shows that the warehousing cost of these materials was fifteen percent higher than the market average."
Cecilia looked up, her gaze calmly fixed on him.
"Can you explain how this fifteen percent markup came about?"
The color instantly drained from Bentley's face.
"I... I used the best materials! Of course they cost more!" he stammered defensively.
"Really?"
Cecilia smiled slightly and picked up another document.
"But I have an independent third-party quality inspection report here. The report shows that not only did the materials your company provided fail to meet the highest standards, but thirty percent of them were substandard goods passed off as premium quality."
"If the quality control department hadn't caught it in time, it could have caused a major accident on the production line."
"This... this is impossible! This is slander!" Bentley shot to his feet, cold sweat sliding down his temples.
"Whether it's slander or not, we can call in the heads of procurement, quality control, and finance for a face-to-face confrontation. That will make everything crystal clear."
Cecilia's tone remained calm, but her eyes turned cold.
"Mr. Lopez, you're a veteran of the Group. Stefan respected you as an elder and showed you a lot of tolerance."
"But tolerance doesn't mean indulgence."
"Embezzling company assets—in criminal law, that's called 'misappropriation of funds.'"
"For large amounts, the maximum sentence is five years or more."
Bentley's legs gave out, and he collapsed heavily into his chair, unable to say a word.
The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly shifted.
If before they had just thought Amelia was a bit tricky to deal with, now they felt genuine fear.
How could she know all this in such detail? She even had the quality inspection report.
Cecilia paid no attention to the collapsed Bentley and turned her gaze to another person.
"Anthony Wright, you're the Marketing Director. Last month, the company's marketing campaign in Zephyria had a budget of thirty million dollars but ended up at thirty-five million, five million over budget."
"Your explanation was 'too many uncontrollable factors in overseas markets.'"
"But I found that of that five million dollars, two million went into the account of a shell PR company in Sylvanor owned by your relative."
"Is that correct?"
Anthony's face instantly turned as pale as Bentley's.
"And Kurt, you abused your authority to place seven or eight relatives in important positions in the company. These people draw high salaries but contribute nothing to the company..."
"And also..."
Cecilia continued methodically, calling out names one by one.
Every sentence precisely laid bare their ugly insider dealings—forming cliques for personal gain and lining their own pockets.
Stefan wasn't unaware of these things.
It's just that with his strong personality, he considered these minor irritations. As long as they didn't affect the company's overall situation, he couldn't be bothered to spend energy dealing with them.
But not bothering to deal with them didn't mean he hadn't kept records.
And Cecilia, from the moment she decided to fight alongside Stefan, was no longer content to be just a housewife protected behind him.
She frantically studied business and management, and Stefan taught her everything he knew from his lifetime of experience.
Stefan's business notes, the company's core materials—she had long since memorized them all.
In the conference room, you could hear a pin drop.
Those whose names had been called looked deathly pale, with cold sweat pouring down.
Those whose names hadn't been called were also terrified, afraid they'd be next.
They discovered with horror that this young woman's understanding of the company and her grasp of each person's dirty secrets was terrifyingly thorough.
Jared sat in the main seat, feeling his hands and feet turn ice cold.
He finally realized what kind of opponent he had provoked.
This wasn't some woman with only beauty and no ability.
This was clearly a thorny black rose.
"Now, does anyone still think I don't understand management?"
Cecilia's voice echoed in the silence.
No one dared speak up again.
"Good." Cecilia nodded with satisfaction. "Since no one has any objections, let's talk about the real business."
Her gaze fell once more on Jared's rigid face.
"Jared, I know you really want this position."
"I can give you this opportunity."